"junius" wrote in message
oups.com...

I know that there are some who consider the E1 to be priced too highly.
That's fine. Perhaps it is by one standard or another. In any case,
I have found it worth the price because it nicely fills an important
niche for me. Sure, I could have paid 500 + x and gotten an Icom R75.
But I have no need for an R75. I have a number of tabletop sets,
including a Drake R8B. While, true, I can hook a tabletop up to a

How does the E1's sync detector compare with the R8B? I don't think $500 is
too high. The Sony SW77 was nearly that much.

"Joe Analssandrini" wrote in message
oups.com...
Dear DeWayne,

I have not seen the Eton E1, not being interested in it for the
following reasons:

1) PASSPORT claims its sound quality is okay but not great. (Of course
I cannot confirm this.) The Satellit 800's sound is, as you know, very,
very good. When you're trying to ID a weak transmission or you're
listening to a program for an hour or more, you want the best sound
quality possible. That's where my AOR AR7030 Plus REALLY shines - it
has the best sound quality of any shortwave receiver I have ever heard

If it's better than my Drake R8 it must be heaven!

and the Grundig Satellit is a close second. Think about that: the
Satellit was priced, even new, one-third to one-fourth the price of an
AR7030 yet it offers about 95% of its performance and sound quality.
AND the Satellit is portable!

2) It has only one external antenna connection, not three as on the
Satellit 800.

3) It has no Air Band (I have found this to be very useful) and I have
absolutely no interest in any "pay" radio service.

4) A fairly large "portable" radio with no handle? This makes no sense.

Crazy ain't it!


5) No internal ferrite antenna for MW and this is, in fact, due to a
lot of digital "hash" generated within the receiver. This is poor
design, in my opinion.

Overall, PASSPORT and every other review I have read are very positive
about the E1 but the limitations mentioned above preclude me from
considering it. The Grundig Satellit 800 has NONE of the above problems
and is STILL the only radio of which I'm aware that can be used as a
tabletop (with virtually all of the advantages of same) and as a
portable (with all of the advantages portables offer except the ability
to take it on an airplane).

And at its current offered (eBay) price of $200-300 (and even
considering that you may have to send it off to Drake for perhaps
another $100) it is the best buy in shortwave radio right now.

I realize that most of you will disagree with me (and with Mike) but
that's my opinion!

I don't necessarily disagree with you Joe. But I do like the 10 Hz tuning
resolution on the E1. 50 Hz is poor for SSB.


Best,

Joe

Eton should pay people five hundred dollars for even thinking about
buying an E1 that doesn't a built in ferrite antenna.
Only way I would ever buy one would be over there at the Goodwill store
for a couple of dollars.
cuhulin

Joe Analssandrini wrote:
Dear Mike,

I always thought the Grundig Satellit 800 was a "steal" at its list
price ($499.00) when it was NEW. There was, and still is, nothing in
its price class that offered its combination of performance - both in
sound and reception quality, flexibility, and ease of use. Only its
quality of construction was somewhat lacking. That said, after almost
six years (and two trips to Drake - one "major," one "minor"), it still
soldiers on, used every day. Connected to a Wellbrook ALA 330S (mounted
in my attic atop a Radio Shack rotator) it offers about 95% of the
performance of my AOR AR7030 Plus (though, of course, it's that last 5%
that really counts when the going is tough).

At $200 - $300, it is almost a "no-brainer" to buy. Even if there is
something wrong with the radio (what do some of these eBay sellers DO
to their equipment anyway?), and as long as the defect(s) is/are minor,
Drake can put the radio in like-new condition for very little
(relatively-speaking) money.

There's still no SW radio offering its capabilities at anywhere near
its price.

I do not think that these prices will last long. In a relatively short
time, especially if there are no other comparable radios offered (let's
hold our breath for the Degen DE-1108), I believe the price of the
Satellit 800 will go up, possibly way up.


Well, eventually the average price may indeed go up. The problem is
that the multitude of quality control issues with the Satellit 800 gave
it the reputation of being a lemon. And that reputation does persist.

For the features and performance offered, the Satellit 800 is a steal
at some of the prices they're going for nowadays. I had sworn I'd
never buy one after reading complaint after complaint on this problem
or that. But when I found one for sale at the $200 range, I went for
it. And it's worth that. I knew that there was the chance that it'd
have some defects/quirks. And it does, indeed (the most annoying
problem being that theres some back-frequency jumping occasionally when
the tuning knob is being turned clockwise). And, after a bit, I
suppose I'll send it to Drake for whatever work is required. And it'll
be worth it, I'm sure, because this is such a darn pleasant radio to
listen to!

I never saw the need to get a Sat 800 because I've got a decent SW8
which is very similar to the Sat 800 in terms of features. But the low
price prompted me to buy. And I have to say that, the handful of
problems aside (and I'll eventually get this unit serviced by Drake;
it's worth it), the Sat 800 is a very nice radio. One of the most
pleasant sounding sets out there.

Of course, to some extent, my unit has confirmed what I had heard:
that this radio is a box full of problems. But, heck, the complainers
had failed to mention what a nice radio this is to listen to on an hour
after hour basis.

Anyway...my opinion...there it is.

junius

Joe Analssandrini wrote:
let's hold our breath for the Degen DE-1108

I don't think I'll be holding my breath on that one, although hopefully
it will prove to be an interesting radio when it materializes. The
dimensions and description, as listed on RadioIntel.com really paint
this radio to be a one-of-a-kind sorta thing. It's supposedly going to
be 14'' wide and 7'' tall, w/two speakers... leading me to wonder if
this is going to be of some sort of small "boombox" appearance.

In any case, I'd just like to know how credible the emerging 1108 story
is...whether its based in any reality. From what I've seen, there was
the little episode in early 2005 where someone started a thread here,
claiming to be doing research in prep for the 1108... Hmmm...
then, months later, this description emerges on RadioIntel that someone
is suppposed to have translated from a Degen user's message board!
Hmmm....
And what a list of features...they just need to add a Holly Hobby Oven
beneath one of the three LCD displays, and it's complete.

It's all possible. But I'm not holding my breath!

JA,

I remember when

..

, ,

! ! !

? ? ? ?

* * * * *

READ - Sat. 800 for $199 @ Discovery Channel
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.r...d53d6e063130da
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.r...586347f9766295

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.r...5f2ab7e9fea9d7


The Grundig Satellit 800 Millennium AM/FM Shortwave Receiver
for $199 "WOW ! - ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND ? " )

such-a-deal -and- i-got-mine ;-)~ RHF

On Wed, 5 Apr 2006 18:02:58 -0700, "mike maghakian"
wrote:

if you look at the price of a satellit 800 on ebay right now you will see
that they are an incredible deal, there really are no other choices at
$200-$300
many have sold at or BELOW $300, a real steal of a deal. it is still my main
receiver from my collection of over 100 receivers. best combination of
features and performance for the MONEY.
only the Lowe HF-225 is used when the ultimate in sound is required with its
attached 3 way altec lansing speaker system.

http://search-completed.ebay.com/satellit-800


There are other good ones out there -- the Sony 2010 I picked up for
$259 recently would be hard to improve upon.

bob
k5qwg